


everything under the sun

by poppunkwolf



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/F, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Love, Other, Relationship(s), Romance, Sexual Content, Smut, romcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-19 03:33:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17593823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppunkwolf/pseuds/poppunkwolf
Summary: annalise is the semi-grumpy owner of a local bookstore in san francisco.eve is a lawyer who just moved to the city and becomes a regular there because she has a grown woman crush and is pining super hard.annalise's employees scheme to get the two of them together.what could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based on [this](http://edwardfish.tumblr.com/post/159255963610/i-need-some-fluffy-annaliseeve-fanfiction-like) prompt from edwardfish on tumblr
> 
> thanks imthefuckinsupreme on tumblr for beta reading x

It had started out as her hairdresser’s idea that she should take time to have a mindful, healthy lunch in the tranquil summery breeze of Dolores Park instead of gorging a tub of salted caramel ice cream on top of a stack of files under florescent lighting in the stock room of the bookstore while ignoring the background noise of her employees in some constant melee of gossiping with and flirting with and fighting each other.

“Get at least one green thing in your meal, no technology, maybe even talk to someone there,” Mary had suggested.

“I can maybe eat a vegetable if there’s enough ranch with it, and I would love to get caught in a book out there and ignore the fact that five annoying twentysomethings have added me to a ‘group chat’, but you’ve got another thing coming if you think the magic of sunlight is going to transform me into a people person.”

“Good, cuz I just wanted you to agree to the first two, so there you go.”

She’d made a huff about the only-partially-solicited advice, but knew spending time outside was good for her, even if it seemed like one of those facts – like how sitting is the new smoking – that she was going to ignore. Now it was something she almost looked forward to each day. She was lounging on a blanket, shoes off and feet poking out cool against the grass and dirt. She felt like an earthy health goddess for getting vitamin D and made a mental note to apply sunscreen in a while after a good amount of rays had soaked in. She laid down and studied the clouds piled like cotton candy in the San Francisco sky.

Her phone started playing the ringtone of some cacophonous ultra gay dance song Connor had covertly customized that she hadn’t really made time to figure out how to undo. She lay comfortably against the blanket and let the song play out, but when it rang again she began to wonder if he had burned the bookstore to the ground since none of the kids would ever call when they could text unless it were an emergency. She groaned, sat up, and pressed answer.

“Do you have a good reason?”

“When have I ever inconvenienced you for no reason?” Connor said. “Just wondering if you’re still at the park.”

“Yes. Do you need me?”

“Great. No, I don’t need you.”

“… Where are you?”

“At Getaway Books, obviously.”

“Then why did someone just say ‘Welcome to Daisy Chocolates’ in the background?”

“What? I am _not_ at Daisy Chocolates!”

In the background, that same woman’s voice said, “Sir, are you lost? Cuz this is definitely Daisy Chocolates for sure so if you need directions I can help you.”

“Thanks, I super appreciate it,” Connor said in the background.

“It’s Michaela’s lunchtime - tell me you didn’t leave the store unattended.”

“It’s okay, I went out for coffee and put up a sign that says I’ll be back in an hour.”

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT?”

“J/K, relax. We switched lunch times because honestly Oliver and I spent last night throwing money at go go boys, and I wasn’t going to be getting any further today without caffeine. But Michaela’s there and we both know that nobody holds the place down like her. I’m sure she’s welcoming the Unbook Club on the patio as we speak and simultaneously cataloguing everything while booking someone amazing for a signing and removing the very last speck of dust.”

“Michaela is helpful,” Annalise said. “For example, in your shoes she would come over here and bring me cake to make up for almost giving me a heart attack.”

“Are you at the tree area from when I saw you that one time?”

“Yes, get a triple fudge molten lava and it better be warm when you bring it.”

She was down to the bottom of her sesame salad tupperware when Connor approached in the distance with a small white box. She lit up at the prospect of improving the day with junk food. She waved to get his attention, but when he came near enough he winked and kept going. In the distance across the park he approached another person and delivered the box.

And she’d recognize that crown of flowing dark hair anywhere.

 

 _Asher came inside from putting out the pottery plants. “Hey Annalise, remember that Amazonianly beautiful woman from our Book Swap earlier this week who traded_ 12 Angry Men _for_ A People’s History of the United States _with Wes’ mom and then spent the rest of the time getting her flirt on hard with you? You have ten seconds until she walks in.”_

_Of course he was wrong, because if Annalise had had ten seconds she could have processed that she was covered in cardboard box scrap with inky fingertips while the most beautiful woman she’d ever met was about to walk in, and thought of a damn escape plan. Eve entered a beat after Asher’s announcement, and Annalise ducked behind the new inventory piled on the front checkout desk._

_“Hi,” Asher greeted her. “Annalise is definitely here – do you want me to go get her?”_

_“Oh, I’m looking for a book on feng shui for my new office,” Eve replied as Annalise crawled from the desk to the backroom, trying to open the curtain and roll through quick enough that Eve’s eye would not be drawn to the movement. From the other side, she listened to the conversation._

_“That’s right, cuz you’re setting up shop on the west-coast-best-coast,” Asher said. “San Fran’s a great place to practice law. And what a coincidence that Annalise studied law in undergrad, so obviously she’s the best person to feng shui your whole lawyer office energy. You could even invite her over. For that.”_

_“She was fun to talk to at Book Swap,” she heard Eve say. “But you don’t have to go get her if she’s busy. I’ll hopefully catch her next time.”_

_Another day she was hanging up Pride month decorations, standing on a ladder in the window. Eve came in and looked up. “Loving the festivities,” Eve said, gesturing at the cutesy rainbow decals._

_“…It’s not really anything,” Annalise said, looking back to the decals with hyper focus._

_“I’m going to miss doing it up New York style for Pride but I’m excited to be in the only place on earth that might be able to compete,” Eve remarked._

_“The festival is always really fun.”_

_“I’m sure your festival look is absolutely flawless.”_

_“This is really all we’re planning.” She gestured at the window of decals._

_“The décor is great but I meant you specifically.”_

_Annalise gave a demure smile and a shrug and turned away, clinging to the ladder with both hands lest she, feeling suddenly and mysteriously unstable, embarrass herself by falling into this lady’s arms._

_“Why are you all huddled like a totem pole?”_

_Asher turned to her and flailed wildly to indicate that she should be quiet as he, Laurel, and Michaela - all in a puppy pile of nosiness - peeked through the curtain that led to the register area out into the main part of the store._

_Wes on a nearby stool turned a page of his Zadie Smith book with cool disregard. “They’re spying on your girlfriend.”_

_Annalise joined the top of the totem pole and poked her eye though the curtain to see Connor interacting with the woman who was not her girlfriend and whom she absolutely did not have a crush on._

_“Miles Morales, huh?” Connor chatted as he scanned the comic she was buying. “My husband Oliver is really into this series. Like, he’s done events about it. He’d probably love to talk with you about Spiderman.”_

_“Oh, I know nothing about comics,” Eve said. “But my niece, Fenna, does. She met the creators at New York Comic Con once and has been obsessed ever since. Her fan drawings are amazing enough that I told her she should put them in her art school portfolio. I thought I’d send her a fun surprise to let her know I haven’t forgotten her even though I left NYC.”_

_“How do you know she doesn’t already have this one?”_

_“It’s on her Amazon wishlist. I don’t even really follow these profiles, but she’s all about the wishlist and the Instagram and whatever else. I let her sign me up and I don’t post things but I follow along.”_

_“Well thanks for supporting your local bookstore,” Connor said. “And you know what would be even more exciting to her than you surprising her in the mail? If she learned it was coming because you started updating Instagram. She’d be excited to see you post it and you’d get to leave her in suspense for the comic to arrive.”_

_“I like your thinking.”_

_“You should post it now.”_

_“Okay,” Eve said. She took out her phone, struck an effortlessly gorgeous pose, and took a selfie of herself holding the book._

_“Yeah, and then you tag her in the caption, and our account is @getawaybooks. Click here to geotag yourself. That’s always fun to do because then people know exactly where you’re doing the cool stuff you’re doing.”_

_“We should follow each other and you can show me things you and your husband do in the city. I’m looking for new adventures,” Eve said. “And my niece will be impressed I know about all the cons and things.”_

_“You know, that’s such a great idea,” Connor said, as they leaned close to see each other’s screens to add each other._

_“I can’t believe Connor is doing a better job right now of picking up women than you’ve been doing,” Asher teased._

_“Shh.”_

_Connor put Eve’s receipt in the book. “Hey, you know who has been in the city for forever and can show you so many great places? Annalise.”_

_Eve took the book and put it in her tote bag. “That would be nice. But no, don’t bother her for me. She seems to have a lot going on and I don’t want to be an extra thing she feels like she has to do. I mean… well, you know.”_

_Annalise kicked the general mass of giggles beneath her._

_“And thanks for the help with my niece.”_

_“Smooth, you guys,” Connor said when Eve had left._

_“Did she notice us?” Laurel asked._

_“I noticed you, and my back was to you, so I’m going to say definitely yes.” Connor gave Annalise a judging look. “She could’ve ordered the book on the Site That Must Not Be Named and sent it directly to her niece, instead of giving herself like five extra steps by coming here. She has it so bad for you. I don’t know why you’re acting like this.”_

_“Stay out of my life,” Annalise retorted. “Just because I spend all day listening to your personal drama doesn’t mean I’m going to share mine.”_

_“Wes, she listens to you,” said Asher. “On a scale of Rosaline to Juliette how hard is Annalise returning Eve’s feelings?”_

_“You and Eve are pining pretty hard for one another,” Wes admitted. “You have to have noticed that she comes in here all the time with random book needs. She just wants to talk to you, and you always disappear.”_

_“She’s gonna take a hint and think you’re not into her, stop showing up, and then where will you be?” Laurel said._

_“Being a workaholic here every day in this store and never taking a break or having anything fun going on?” Michaela guessed. “So, exactly like now.”_

_“I’m going to repeat myself once: None of you better try to interfere in my personal life or you’re fired and I will also kill you,” Annalise asserted, turning with burning cheeks and a rushed heartbeat away into the stock room._

 

She was ready to wipe the smirk off Connor’s face when he came back to her blanket. “I just ‘that person across the bar bought you this drink’-ed her, but with cake.”

“Connor!”

“She was thrilled. You’re officially the hot quirky woman about to transform her corporate world, so go over there. Teach her how to relax. Put her on a bicycle built for two.”

“You’re confusing me with Wes,” she critiqued, laughing and tumbling over when he began to roll up her blanket and nudge her off of it.

“Hey, and remember,” he said, shooting her finger guns. “Pics or it didn’t happen.”

She scowled and stood, snatching the blanket from him without any real fire behind it. She took her lunch bag and purse and walked across the hill to Eve, who waved at her and watched her approach with mirth in her gaze, her long dark hair blowing lightly in the wind.

When she got closer, Eve made room for her on her blanket. She sat down, and Eve smiled at her. “I’d call it serendipity but I think we had a little interference.”

“Yeah,” Annalise said. “I’m not quite sure what Connor just did.”

 “I posted a selfie, mostly to say hi to my family who follows me. He saw where I was geotagged and asked me if you could join me. I couldn’t believe it. The hardest working bookstore owner in San Fran, coming to be by my side on a nice summer’s day.”

“I’m not as unavailable as I may seem. Especially at lunch time when I try to make space for experiencing the city.”

“The city is quite a character,” Eve said. “How long have you been here?”

 “Twenty years. I came here after college and wanted a job where I was surrounded by learning but in a less structured way than school. I came to work at the bookstore and then the owner who mentored me, Dr. Carson, left me the business.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“She’s alive. She retired and moved to Atlanta once she knew I could keep the store a staple of the community.”

“I know you’re my staple. The bookstore, I mean. I always find my niece’s comics at your store.”

“How old is your niece?”

“Seventeen and about to apply to college. She’s a huge bookworm – it’s a thing we’ve always shared. I miss her and my brother.”

“That’s cool that you’re all so close.”

Eve laughed. “I think half of why I came to California is so he and I could run separate corners of the firm we share and I wouldn’t have to look at his face every day or hear the words coming out of it. You know how family is.”

“I grew up Baptist. The first murder in the Bible _did_ happen over a sibling competition about who was more impressive than the other one.”

“You get it! I’m sure if we all acted on our Cain-est instincts this city wouldn’t have any people in it.”

“Or it would have just only-children. The majority of my sibling-free friends haven’t killed anyone. At least fifty-one percent.”

“Odds to aspire to,” Eve agreed. “So, where did you grow up?”

“Do you think you’d be able to guess?”

“I’m gonna guess the south but probably New Orleans or somewhere, because you have that worldly vibe.”

“You’re close by some interpretations. Memphis.”

“The birthplace of rock and roll,” Eve said, impressed. “Top artists. Go.”

“For Memphis-based artists, we used to listen to Anita Ward. In terms of rock in general, I had a bit of a crush on Freddie Mercury. I used to imagine he, Whitney Houston, and Prince would all fall in love with me.”

Eve laughed. “I had the same fantasy about Joan Jett.”

 “I remember from Book Swap you said your family was far away.”

“The Netherlands. I came to the US to go to school, a few years after my brother did.”

“So you probably travel between countries often.”

“I do, but that’s part of why I’m so close to the family I do have here.”

“I admire that. I know a certain group of people have tried to hijack the idea of family values, but I’ve always been about family too. Not that I would ever go back to Memphis.”

“I miss New York. It was a big part of building my career and it was fun. I went clubbing, I joined art appreciation groups, I met women who came and went but they meant something to me and it was character building. I found friends I’ll always keep in touch with. It was a good era of my life.”

“I have a feeling you’ll feel that way about San Francisco soon enough.”

“It’s growing on me. I’m learning to do things like find the best sourdough bread and use the muni.”

“You should go to Tartine if you want a true San Francisco bread experience,” Annalise said. “Though don’t let anyone catch you putting a ‘the’ in front of ‘muni’.”

“I’d hate to offend you locals. I haven’t had anyone as my tour guide to the city,” Eve said.

“You may have a New York vibe, but you have a San Francisco spirit,” Annalise said. “I don’t think you’ll have a problem with the locals.”

A little quieter, Eve asked, “How am I doing on that front right now?”

“The locals are… intrigued.” Annalise thought about Mary insisting she socialize. “And if you want, I’d love to show you the city.”

Eve lit up. “I’d be down for that.”

“Okay, I’m gonna come up with an itinerary. What hobbies are you into?”

“My family and I used to go on hikes or adventures by the water, things like that.”

“Oh, you’re one of those people,” Annalise said playfully.

“I mean, we don’t have to-”

“No, I want to. Everyone wants to get into health and fitness, so now I have my motivation. And do you like unique gems or are you more into tourist attractions?”

“Both. Sometimes the most fun things are the most cliché, and sometimes the most special things are the ones you get by having those experiences with people who know the area closely.” Eve tossed her a mischievous smile. “Like the good place for dessert.” Eve reached for the compostable fork, opening the box and sinking it into the delectable dessert. She made sure to scoop the right amount of lava and held this choice bite out to Annalise.

Annnalise opened her mouth and took the bite, closing her eyes to savor the warm, delicious richness.

Eve scooped a forkful and tried it. “This is to die for,” Eve said. “Have you ever had dessert this amazing before?”

“I’d tell you,” Annalise said. “But that would ruin the surprise for you now that I’m officially showing you the city.”

“When do we start?”

“There’s something tomorrow I thought about doing but haven’t tried yet. Are you a morning person?”

“I can swing a morning here or there for a non-work thing. Why, what do you have in mind?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise. Be free until at least midday.”

“This is going to be fun.”

“Speaking of midday,” Annalise said. “I don’t know if you have to get back to work. I told the kids I’d come back in after lunch.”

“I get it,” Eve said, sending her a nonchalant, carefree shrug. “I guess I’ve had enough Annalise time to hold me over till tomorrow.”

Annalise paused to regard the woman smirking at her, her dark windswept hair falling just out of the way of her eyes. “Or… I could check in and see if they really actually need me.”

She texted Michaela: “I’m still at lunch. Can you handle the store if I stay a little longer?”

Within seconds, the reply: “connor and i will literally never forgive you if we see you come back to this store today x”

“What’s the verdict?” Eve asked. She held invitation tinged with just a bit of seduction in her eyes.

“Let’s do coffee.”

Eve nodded, and the two of them stood to gather their things.

As they strolled on the sidewalk along the road by the park, a man pulled into an empty parking space on a spotlessly shiny, sleek black motorcycle.

“Nice ride,” Eve said.

“Thanks.” He pulled off his helmet and reached into his pocket to procure a business card. “If you ladies want to rent a motorcycle you can get a deal if you tell ‘em Frank sent ya.”

Eve smiled, taking the card. “I’d love to get back on a motorcycle.”

As he walked away, Annalise looked to Eve, floored. “You’re a biker? Did you have a motorcycle in New York?”

Eve gave a nonchalant shrug, clearly gratified by the surprise in Annalise’s eyes. “My job’s a little mundane so I thought I’d balance it with a cool hobby.”

“I do think it would be fun to explore the city this way.”

 “You plan the adventure, and I could take us there. If you trust me.”

“You’re moving pretty fast Ms. Rothlo to hit me with the trust card.” Annalise couldn’t help but smile.

“Is that a yes?”

“I’m not quick to put my trust in people but I have a feeling that if we get on a motorcycle together, you’re not going to kill me.”

“Highest praise a lady can get. It looks like Frank has himself a deal.”

 

The Harley Davidson was Eve’s for the next twenty four hours. It was a formative piece of black shiny machinery so chic that Annalise felt almost unqualified to get on. Eve mounted it first, her already-short dress hiked up to her thighs as she straddled the metal. As she tied her hair loosely to the side, she saw Annalise’s hesitation as she stood on the sidewalk. Eve gave a consoling smirk and a commanding come hither motion that left Annalise’s cheeks heated and sent a flush through her whole body.  Eve helped her with her helmet and secured it for her.

Annalise swung one leg over the machine and latched onto Eve, holding tightly to her waist.

“You have to lean into every curve,” Eve said.

Flushed, Annalise could only utter, “I’ll try to do that.”

“Yes, so just copy the turns I lean into. And let me know if I go off course, since I’m following your directions. The only other thing I really need from you is for you to sit pretty and hold me tight – but you knew that.”

“I actually didn’t know you thought I was pretty.”

“Don’t be coy,” Eve teased.

Once they were on the road, Annalise felt a sense of giddy adrenaline as she looked out at everything whizzing past them. She laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Eve said over the sound of the wind against them.

“I didn’t think I was going to spend today on the back of a motorcycle with a badass biker chick, that’s all,” Annalise said.

“And I didn’t think I was going to be spending today with that adorable nerdy book lady.”

Annalise wasn’t sure whether to blame the whirlwind of speed, the playfulness and affection tinting the compliment, or the general awareness that her whole body was up against the most attractive woman she was sure she had ever met, but she felt lightheaded. She held Eve tighter.

                                                                                                                              

Land's End was breathtaking, ocean foam collecting and fading against the jagged rocks aligning the coast, soaking everything in its blue-white-gray landscape. In this summer season, accented by lush greenery and newfound life eager from the heels of spring, it was a beautiful place to sit among the boulders by the water. People were “strongly discouraged” but not forbidden from getting in. Maybe she was best persuaded by the danger – by the idea of teetering on a ledge, or swimming just before a waterfall.

"You should be glad, Annalise, that I trust you not to let me fall and break my neck and die," Eve said as they went from rock to rock to get closer to the water.

"I trusted you on a motorcycle so the least you can do is trust me to lead you on your own two feet," Annalise retorted smartly.

Eve grinned, holding her hand out, and Annalise took it as they both kept aware of their balance as they crossed the rocks.

They settled at a collection of boulders right upon the lakeside, where the water flowed gently toward the riverbank.

“I know we shouldn’t jump in,” Eve said, “But what if we put our feet in? It would be like a natural, bubbly jacuzzi.”

“It would be so cold,” Annalise explained. “I know you’re probably used to the Atlantic which has warm currents, but the Pacific Ocean refuses to acknowledge it’s summer.”

“If you say so,” Eve said.

Annalise sighed. “Okay, just let me test the rocks closer so that I know they’re steady.” She balanced on the edge of one rock and stepped gingerly from one to another. “It looks like it’s fine,” she reported, as she stepped toward the next boulder, toppled on its unsteady surface, and plunged into the icy waves.

The cold hit her bones.

Completely underwater, the waves felt especially tumultuous as she floundered.

She kicked, cold and confused.

There were noises she was not able to place, but she scrambled toward where her instincts led her. She broke the surface.

“Annalise!” Eve was pulling her second shoe off.

“I’m fine,” Annalise called. She swam toward Eve and clasped her hand.

She crawled with Eve closer to the dry boulders and they collapsed to lay next to each other.

“Annalise, it is not romantic to jump in the water and die,” Eve berated her.

She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m okay.”

Eve wrapped her arms around Annalise to warm her. It was an unintentional stunt, but it was worth it when Eve cupped her face with a light touch, stroked her cheek, and kissed her.

Annalise closed her eyes and noted the sweet, gentle touch of Eve’s lips, as if Eve thought her incredibly delicate. She breathed into Eve’s subtle floral scent and gently touched Eve’s soft hair as they leaned closer. Eve’s palm came to rest so gently against her back as the waves slashed gentle ocean spray against their toes. When the kiss somehow ended, Eve said looking up through her lashes, “You’re going to catch death in these wet clothes... you should come back to my place and get out of them.”

 

Annalise simmered under the heat of the water, thinking of the way that Eve had escorted her into the apartment, which held tasteful and minimalist blue-hued décor. Eve had led her through the hallway into the bedroom, to the shower, handed her a towel with a sultry smirk and said, “Let me know if you need me.” Annalise had taken the towel and climbed in, smoldering in the dual suggestion and innocence of the comment.

She ran her hands over her body and imagined Eve - radiant, splendid, dripping, tilting her drenched head back, lips parted and eyes closed, as Annalise held her close and placed kisses under hot water against her flush shoulders. Annalise had been certain, as she’d held Eve tight, drying a little under the sun and wind of the motorcycle ride back to her place, that she was in for a seduction, and she had certainly been right.

 

Eve had laid out loungewear for her, and she emerged from the shower in Eve’s short shorts and tshirt. “Hey.”

Eve was lounging on the bed reading on her stomach, her feet at the head, and looked up at her with a full smile. “Better?”

Annalise nodded, climbing onto the bed next to Eve and laying casually next to her. “What are you reading?”

“ _A People’s History of the United States._ It’s the book I traded with Rose.”

“How do you like it?”

“We’ll have a lot to talk about when we get together. Like how there’s this sentimentality toward US history that people like me and her are supposed to embrace, even when it’s based on propaganda.”

“I’m loyal to the people I share space with,” Annalise said. “But not a fan of mindless patriotism.”

“Was your mentor the same way?”

“She was. I always want to have the bookstore be something she can be proud of.”

Eve closed the book and turned to look at Annalise, head in palm. “I wish the person I look to could be proud of me. I’ve won high profile cases, established my name. My brother is still more successful. It feels like climbing up a wall, trying to be worthy of him within the firm.”

“Why don’t you just… tell him off?”

Eve laughed. “For the same reason people in general don’t tell off their coworkers?”

“I’m the boss where I work and my employees are brutal. I’m pretty sure they only pretend to fear me.”

“Oh please, they can tell you’re a softy. That you have the venom to bite them, but you’re way too good of a person to really do it.”

“I’m not that good of a person.”

Eve smiled blithely. “I saw you run out of colored ink at the Book Swap and immediately order Asher to get more right away so you could print Rose a proper gift card for swapping the most books. Even the fact that you have a Book Swap, focused on the community over profits. One time I was in the store when this lady was getting an SAT prep book for her daughter and realized she was two dollars short and almost cried. You told her it was Half-Off Wednesday, a discount I’m pretty sure you made up on the spot. And when you-”

“Okay.” Annalise buried her face in Eve’s comforter. “I get it, you think I’m nice because your bar is calibrated to New Yorkers.” She couldn’t help but smile as she noticed Eve’s light, sweet scent on the blanket.

She looked up when Eve laughed, pulled her closer by the waist, closing the space between them into a warm kiss. “You were the one who said I had the spirit of San Francisco so you can’t use that as an excuse. You just have to accept you’re amazing.”

 

“Okay, it’s- there are seven stars. Do you see the four that are kind of in a square? It’s a square with a handle?”

“Stop pointing,” Annalise said. “I’m not going to see the specific star out of ten trillion just because you’re pointing.”

“Yes, yes you will because it’s right there,” Eve insisted.

They lay with their heads together on Eve’s rooftop deck futon, comfortable in the temperate summer nighttime around them.

“I see it,” Annalise said. “A spoon. The seven stars… they are amazing.”

“…You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

Annalise smiled. “It’s the middle of a well-lit city at night. And you’re a New Yorker so how have you ever seen the stars?”

“Camping with my family in the countryside of the Netherlands.”

“Maybe we can just people watch. See that hipster rooftop party over there in their native habitat? Their diet consists of so many varieties of craft artisan beer.”

“I’m surprised you’re not desensitized to hipsters being around people like Wes, the guy who rides a bike everywhere and is never seen without plaid.”

“You’re very mistaken,” Annalise said. “Wes is way too earnestly sincere about it to be a hipster.”

“I sense a certain affection in your voice. Is he your favorite?”

“It’s kind of hard to say, since they each get on my nerves in their own special and unique way. Michaela keeps the place running. She’s my right hand woman, like I was to Dr. Carson. Asher, even with all his fart jokes, is easygoing and caring and loyal to people, and that makes him the best at building a rapport with customers.”

“Ooh, let me guess one. Laurel is the girl knows everything. She’s like a walking info desk.”

“She’s also been our legal advocate as she goes through law school. She’s helped in a huge way. And Wes is basically an angel who has never done anything wrong in his life. I think of him as the heart, as our moral center. And Connor might be full of mischief, but he keeps things eventful and always comes up with ways to engage the community. You already know about the insane amount of followers he has. And I’d hate to stroke his ego but I should thank him because he did push me to stop being shy and come talk to you.”

“Cheers to getting pushed,” Eve said.

“Not the right thing to say when we’re on a rooftop,” Annalise teased. “But no. You’re right. Sometimes I hesitate to listen to what I want.”

“And what do you want now?”

 

Her skin felt spoiled against the soft satin sheets Eve laid her into. Eve undressed her slowly as if she were a thing to be savored. She was wearing Eve’s clothes, but Eve fingered the material upon her, brushing against her skin to pull it off, like it was precious just for being on her. Eve placed sweet, languid kisses on each newly revealed part of her body as each item of clothing came off.

“I’ve wanted this from the moment I met you,” Eve said, and Annalise sighed audibly into the touch of Eve’s fingers trailing - sweet and just perfectly rough - up her thighs. “Do you know how enticing you are?”

Annalise let the question drift away, rhetorical. She met Eve’s kiss and arched her back into Eve’s covetous gestures, so vulnerable as she curled her fingers into Eve’s hair and breathed harder with aching want as Eve’s fingertips danced up her inner thigh. Eve caressed the outside of her underwear and then worked her way beneath the fabric, sending her to a bliss that would be agony if it were not so perfect.

 

She lay in Eve’s soft covers, her head in the crook of Eve’s neck, legs entangled, Eve’s soft hair gently touching her face as she slept. She sat up gently and surveyed the bed for the least noticeable way to climb out under the moonlight.

Slipping out of the sheets, she sat before Eve’s bookshelf, illuminated by the moonlight in the window. She was reminded of when Michaela had once come back disgruntled from a date and quoted John Waters: “If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fuck them.” Coming into Eve’s house, she’d caught a brief glance of the expansive living room bookshelf, right before being led to the shower. She imagined that there was another one in Eve’s office across town. And here in Eve’s bedroom was a third one, smaller, with just two shelves and doubling as a nightstand. A pretty cactus sat near Steinbeck’s _East of Eden_. Then there was _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_. Cross-legged on the hardwood floor, she pulled out` Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_ , which sat right next to _Macbeth_ , a play a steady trickle of nervous high schoolers had once come to her shop to ask for by pointing to it on their phones while refusing to say the name. “We’re not even in a theater,” Asher had pointed out, but superstition was high in their thespian minds and Annalise had had to wish them to break a leg on their “Scottish play” lest the M word lead to their demise.

“Hey.” Eve spoke in a relaxed hush.

Annalise smiled, put the book back, and climbed back into bed.

Eve reached out for her, stroking Annalise’s cheek gently with her thumb.

Annalise regarded the affection in Eve’s gaze. “Hey.”

“What time is it?”

Annalise reached for her phone. “Four am. We have a few hours until we have to get up, if you still want to go to the thing I’ve planned.”

“Anything.” Eve gestured with her fingers, the same come-hither motion that had left Annalise’s knees wobbly earlier, and Annalise obeyed. She crawled closer to Eve and laid her head on the pillow, pulling Eve close in a contented, languid kiss. She nestled her arm around Eve’s waist.

Eve slowly blinked at her with a little smile, as if she were fighting to stay awake just to gaze upon her, and closing her eyes, drifted back to sleep.

 

Annalise wasn’t your usual type of morning person. She didn’t “go jogging” or “rise with the sun” or “wake up in the mornings”. But something about Eve’s casual mention of hiking made her feel like going on healthy misadventures in the city was not hard and could even be fun. She set her alarm low, and in the morning when the beeping sounded, she disentangled herself from Eve and turned it off right away in hopes of not waking her companion. Despite her efforts Eve opened her eyes as well, blinking them slow against the light of Annalise’s phone. “Is it time to wake up?”

She brushed Eve’s hair away from her eyes. “I’m just going to go home to get exercise clothes, then I’ll meet you back here.”

“Or,” Eve said, taking her fingers and kissing them, “you could just wear my clothes, and spend that time here in bed with me.” She sat up as she lazily kissed her way up to Annalise’s neck.

“We’re not the same size,” Annalise said.

Eve nuzzled her chin. “I have a bunch of workout clothes that are adjustable, that you’d look smoking hot in, and of course we’d have more time before we have to leave this bed.”

She gave into the invitation and pulled Eve closer, her fingers grazing the silky skin of Eve’s bare back underneath her drapey tshirt. Eve buried her face in the crook of her neck, and from this position she felt the sweet touch of Eve’s lips on her jawline in tandem with the light brush of butterfly kisses. Under the earliest break of light through the window, Eve was lovelier than ever, and giggled triumphantly when Annalise rolled on top of her and pulled the covers over their heads.

 

Even the instructor’s name was an ode to the insufferable perky optimism that someone would have to have, to even consider coming out here today.

“Welcome to Yoga on the Water everyone, I’m Meggy! You’re awesome for choosing health and wellness by getting up early today, and you’re going to have so much fun! Doing yoga on your floating mat in the ocean might sound scary but if you can balance on two feet on a regular yoga mat on land, you’re not going to have that much trouble balancing in the water once I show you a few tricks. Watch me and I’ll signal you to follow!” The young lady waded out to a mat tethered to the dock and climbed on. From her knees, she stood up, shifted her feet to a wide stance, and threw her arms triumphantly into the air. “See? That was nothing. Come join me!”

“Meggy, will you jump in the water and save us if we fall?” Eve asked. “Or should I assume my date is leading me to my cold death as a clever punishment for getting her into a water related incident yesterday?”

“If you guessed what I was doing it wouldn’t be that clever,” Annalise teased, wading out beside her into the water. “I’d like to believe I’d be a better murderer than that.”

“There’s almost a zero chance that anybody will die,” Meggy replied. “Even if you fall in, the sharks are not partial to human flesh, contrary to what Steven Spielberg wants you to think. Once they get a few good nibbles in and realize you’re a gross human and not a yummy turtle, they’ll let you go more often than not.”

Still standing beside her mat, Annalise’s eyes widened at Meggy’s news.

And before she could think, something grabbed hold of her foot.

She screamed and thrashed onto the mat, tugging her foot free.

Meggy arched an eyebrow. “…I suppose I missed my cue to say just kidding and that it’s probably just seaweed.”

“I’m okay,” she whispered to the other participants, keeping her gaze on the water in horror.

Eve stood on her mat. “I changed my mind, you’re not here to take me down, you’re here to provide us all with hilarious mishaps.”

Annalise splashed her, and Eve contorted away but kept her balance.

“Okay, let’s begin,” Meggy announced.

They began on two feet, shoulder width apart. Meggy led them on arm circles to warm up and increase balance.

“For the single leg balance, focus on something in front of you,” Meggy instructed.

It was silly, but when Eve locked eyes with her, Annalise was sure she’d found her center, her balance, but she was wrong because something in them couldn’t stop their laughter and it sent them tipping straight into the water.

 

In Eve’s bed, Annalise whimpered in approval at the touch of dexterous, well-oiled fingers sliding across her back. On her stomach, she almost shuddered at Eve’s touch.

“I admire anyone who can do water yoga and not need full attention on every muscle of their body,” Eve said.

“I’ve got some attention for your body if you have time,” Annalise countered, keeping her tone coy despite the forwardness of her words.

Eve sighed at the suggestion, her fingers delicately squeezing Annalise’s hips. “In the best possible way, I feel like it was an entire era of life ago that I ditched work to hang out with you. But I have a conference call with my brother and our client. These Mahoney people are a big deal and I should be ultra-prepared.”

“Okay. I can go in early for work, but it means I can get out early and maybe come back to see you?”

“Good. Cuz whatever kind of body work you’re promising me, I’m still holding you to it.”

 

From the middle rung of the stepladder, Connor gasped and dropped an armful of reference volumes.

“What?” Michaela asked, looking from Annalise to Connor and back to Annalise.

“Am I the god of matchmaking? Do I have superpowers?” Connor asked, gazing in wonder at his hands.

“Unless it’s super bone healing ability, please follow workplace regulations and hold onto the ladder,” Annalise said, coming to pick up the books and hold them out for him.

Now that she was close, he whispered, “You’re wearing the same dress as _yesterday_. I remember because your blue with red floral slayed and your boobs looked _amazing_ in it,” he said, pointing aggressively to the accused area. “You’ve been with Eve this entire time.”

“There’s actually an exciting new thing called a washing machine,” Annalise said with poised aloofness. “You can repeat clean clothes without even noticing.”

Connor squinted. “Fine, if that’s how you wanna play it,” he called, as she headed to the back room. “But a washing machine did not put that pep in your step. I’m taking full credit for whatever this is!”

“Weren’t you the one who said pics or it didn’t happen?” Annalise retorted. “I guess it didn’t happen.”

This was not the right thing to say to a millennial because he promptly took out his phone and gasped. “Oh my god, Eve is gorgeous in a bikini,” he shrieked, climbing down the ladder as Michaela rushed to his side to look on.

“He’s right, she could be a model,” Michaela added. “You’re like, both killing it in this pic.”

“I mean, you already know what she looks like in that outfit,” Connor said. “And what she looks like out of it, I’m just going to go ahead and assume.”

Annalise joined their phone huddle and rolled her eyes, regretting posing for the group shot at the yoga class, which Eve had regrammed. “Fine. If you must know…”

They were just as expert at reading her intentional trailing silence as she was at tolerating their high-pitched youthful overexcitement. She would probably regret telling them about her romantic life, but she also kind of wouldn’t have one without their meddling.

 

Eve invited her to an event that her niece insisted she attend. At the Exploratorium After Dark event, which was the same great Exploratorium as always but so adults could go without drowning in a sea of children, they tagged Eve’s niece Fenna in a series of live photos:

Annalise and Eve each contorting their increasingly-yoga-flexible bodies into the O in the title in front of the building.

Eve making a “nope” face and shaking her head next to the perfectly clean water fountain shaped like a toilet, which they both agreed they would simply have to accept being too squeamish to drink from.

Eve laughing maniacally, attacking a surprised and indignant looking Annalise with water splashes in a prisoner’s dilemma style game meant to test human nature. The employee who photographed them informed them cheerfully that they were “average” in their likelihood to betray each other.

Eve spinning in the dizzying chair, and the caption about how the chair impacts one’s inner ear fluids.

Doing the wave in front of the pier view, and another photo of the screen that tracks salinity, tides, and other variances of the pier water. Eve assured Annalise that Fenna would love these details.

 

After the Exploratorium, they got sourdough sandwiches and locally roasted fair trade coffee and brought them to the seating near the Cupid’s Span sculpture along the seawall, whose eerie figures gestured with their arms out like they were looking for a fight.

“She gave likes on everything,” Eve said, showing Annalise her phone.

“I don’t have nieces or nephews but if I did, I wouldn’t know how to be such a cool aunt.”

“You just have to take them seriously. She’s been pretty depressed this summer stuck in New York. She could have gone to an art school summer program in Maine but my brother is really overprotective of her and wouldn’t let her go three states over for a month. Her dream is to get into UC Berkley’s art program. My brother is supportive of her but he would never in a million years let her come this far unless I’m here. So that’s why it’s important I get the firm to succeed out here. For her. If I don’t, I’m back in New York.”

“Oh,” Annalise said. “I didn’t realize… that you might leave San Francisco.”

“I mean, I won’t,” Eve said. “Everything is smooth sailing with our main client unless some random curveball comes out of nowhere.”

“Good.” Annalise squeezed her hand. “And I admire you for being a great aunt.”

“Family is everything to me.”

“You’re making me almost want to call my mama now. Almost, but won’t.”

Eve smiled. “I’m not saying everything with family is rosy. My brother is my polar opposite in personality and values, but they’re all still important to me and I know that it’s important to choose them.”

 

Silent Book Club was where introverts came to Getaway Books to read, separately, in each other’s presence. Annalise usually worked the event, but when Michaela saw Eve’s RSVP she recruited Wes and Laurel to come instead and demanded that Annalise attend off the clock as Eve’s date.

“It’s not a date. There’s barely even any talking,” Annalise had said.

Michaela groaned. “Why are you so damn difficult? You’re the only person who would ever complain about getting much needed personal time, having a genius employee ready to stand in for you, and spending time with a hot bookworm woman who is into you.”

Annalise scowled. “Okay, you’re in charge for the night. Don’t screw it up and don’t bring me any problems.”

 

This was how she found herself at the bookstore draped in a love seat with Eve, side by side with their feet entangled. Eve chatted with her in the soft, conversational hush acceptable at Silent Book Club as others around them talked and laughed together.

Eve flipped through the book in her hand. “ _Travels with Charlie_ is unique as far as Steinbeck goes. He had a certain wanderlust. He was sentimental toward America but not afraid to criticize it, and it’s pretty deep because he wrote the book right before his death. I admit I was drawn to it because he came from New York City at the time, and he does mention SF. He called it a place of kindness and greatness.”

“I’ve seen kindness and greatness here, so I guess. But I’ve also seen the opposite,” Annalise admitted.

“Meanness and smallness?”

“Sometimes.”

 “Tell me about your book.”

“…This is probably a bad time to be reading Zane,” Annalise said.

Eve giggled, laying her head on Annalise’s shoulder to read along on the opened page. A few moments in, she said, “I like how it jumps straight from late office meeting to bow chicka bow wow.”

“Nice word for it,” Annalise teased.

“It’s not my go-to term but it’s the only right word for the tone of this book.”

Annalise leaned forward to rifle through her book bag, pulling out _Nature_ by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “I’m also reading this. Transcendentalism would not have been accepted in the Bible belt. And it’s not that I’ve adapted the idea of transcending toward nature on a religious level. But I do value the idea of enlightenment through nature.”

“Even if he insists on the idea that enlightenment is achieved primarily through solitude?”

Annalise met Eve’s gaze. “I think the opposite.”

“I’ve tried being alone. In life, and in terms of relationships. I enjoyed the tranquility of meditating alone by a lakeside, or hiking off for the day. But there’s something else, something special and impossible to replicate or ignore, about spending time with someone you care about and can experience it with.”

“It’s kind of like silent book club,” Annalise said. “Each person here is on their own journey. But they can’t help but bring each other along.”

Guests were strewn across the chairs, couches, tables, floor, and bench seating areas throughout the shop. In the corner love seat beneath the poster of _1984_ , a man in a news cap reclined comfortably against the arm, book in hand. On the other side near the collection of succulents, a woman leaned into the arm cushion and read a separate book. Their feet met in the middle, touching with tranquil intimacy. Annalise was not even bothered by their feet on the couch. Across the floor, a child was splayed with a large picture book, and their mother sat cross-legged nearby. The child moved their finger from word to word as they almost inaudibly mouthed each sound. The mother smiled on with a proud crinkle in her eyes.

Annalise continued. “When I was young, my sister Celestine and I would read together. She’d always be into some kids science book about why photosynthesis happened or something like that, and I loved reading murder mysteries, especially the ones where you have to solve it by the end. We never read the same thing but we’d intentionally sit with each other and read individually. It was fun, but my dad called us weird for making such a point to be together when we read. He thought we should interact.”

“Not weird at all,” Eve assured her.

“I realized that, once I started working here all those years ago, and saw people come here and read alone together. It was validating.”

“So you created Silent Book Club,” Eve concluded.

“No, it actually wasn’t my idea. It was Connor, Asher, and Michaela who came to me when they saw it work in other cities. They’re great at programming.”

They watched Michaela as she set a check down at a man’s table for the tea he had ordered. “Matilda!” she gushed to the boy with him, who lowered the book to smile up at her. “That’s one of my favorites.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, I always thought it was special that she was able to find a family who loved her. And of course her powers were awesome.”

“I keep practicing telekinesis but I haven’t succeeded yet,” he said.

“I used to practice too. You should keep trying.”

“I’m trying to get good in time for my Hogwarts letter.” The boy smiled with a self-aware cheekiness.

“Do you want chocolate chip ultra blondies?” Wes asked, breaking Annalise and Eve out of their observations. He offered a platter before them with the pastries piled artfully.

“ _This_ is why I pay you,” Annalise said, taking one.

“Why do you call them ultra blondies?” Eve asked.

“Extra spoonful of vanilla extract. They have a heightened vanilla profile without overloading on sugar.”

Eve bit into a blondie. “Mmm, these are _amazing_.”

Wes gave a thankful nod. “I spent a while perfecting the recipe before getting it right and debuting them tonight. I’m going to take your reaction as a sign it’s working.”

“It’s appreciated, Wes,” Annalise agreed.

“He’s like an undiscovered San Francisco treasure,” Eve remarked once he had moved on to other customers. Eve watched them perk up in delight when they sunk their teeth into the treats.

“We don’t have a kitchen space here,” Annalise explained. “We serve tea but the most foodie events we do are wine and beer tastings with local vineyards and breweries, byob book clubs, and when he randomly decides to bake one hundred of something and gift it since we don’t have a license to sell it.”

“Is that a good business move?”

“I’ve known people to come just in hopes he’ll be giving away treats. None of these people even like reading.”

Eve laughed. “I think it’s a true sign of passion to want to do something so badly you’ll do it just because it makes you and others happy.”

“He’ll do more than that,” Annalise said. “I’m determined to make it happen. This space is not going to be the limit.”

“What does that mean? I mean, your bookstore is the crown jewel of the city, and the kids you employ are all amazing multitalented people who adore you. And you still find time to humor people like me who think they can hold a candle to your life. What else could a woman want?”

“Okay, well I have to correct you. If you went to the back room you’d see there was a sticker chart with things on it like ‘update vendors’ and “dust”, and without it my employees would fall into chaos.”

Eve tapped Annalise’s foot with her own. “Is that an offer to give me a behind the scenes exclusive?”

“It’s really just a mess.”

Eve’s lips grazed Annalise’s earlobe when she whispered, “So there’s _nothing_ special you’d like to show me in this bookstore?”

 

Annalise moaned against Eve’s mouth, arching her back into the touch of Eve’s fingers tugging at her blouse. They broke the contact long enough for Eve to pull Annalise’s shirt over her head and go back into the frantic kiss. “Who knew a storage room could be an impromptu playroom?” Eve said, leaning Annalise back against the ladder, holding onto a high rung with one hand as she held Annalise by the waist with the other and kissed her urgently. When Eve moved lower to her breasts and planted fervent, biting kisses down her body, Annalise melted lithely into the touch, giving audible but gentle wails at the pleasure. Eve caressed her thighs and slid her hands under her skirt and into her underwear.

“Mhn…” Annalise writhed against Eve’s touch as Eve glided ruthless, determined fingers into her heated center. She put her hands around Eve’s head and took a forceful handful of Eve’s hair, tugging as Eve whimpered and buried her face in Annalise’s neck, biting. “I’m going to fall,” Annalise whimpered, still leaning against the ladder. She saw the cardboard box a few feet away, a book order that had come in earlier. She pulled Eve toward it, grateful for the one surface in the small room.

Annalise sat down on the cardboard in the same motion that Eve wrapped a leg around her to straddle her, and they both went caving into the unexpectedly empty box. They shrieked simultaneously as they contorted against the confines of the box, entangled in each other.

Annalise winced at the weight on top of her. “Ow ow ow, you’re on my-“

“I’m stuck just like you, and I-”

The storage closet door swung open and Michaela gazed upon them with a flat expression. “Should I help you first, or should I go update the whole entire bookstore who thinks someone is back here getting murdered?”

Annalise moved her hand to cover her breasts, which were mostly covered by Eve anyway. “Get us out.”

Michaela grabbed a box cutter. She approached them and deftly broke down one corner of the box, careful not to hurt either of them. As it collapsed, Annalise fell further down and brought Eve with her, but her legs were free and they were now able to scramble out of their pile.

“Not looking,” Michaela announced. She twirled to face the door as Eve stood and reached to pull Annalise to her feet. “But as the coordinator of this event, my official advice is for you two to get a room. Not this one. You don’t have to go home, but you’ve got to get the hell out of… uh, your own bookstore.”

“Don’t worry, I’d kick me out too,” Annalise said. To Eve, “My place?”

 

“I should make a confession,” Eve murmured in the hallway, capturing Annalise’s lips. She whispered, “After I met you at Book Swap, I thought about you every day. You were unbelievably beautiful, but more than that you were a whole package. Your recommendation on _Parable of the Talents_ breathed life into it.”

“It was easy to talk to you. I was glad to have found someone just as…”

“Smart as you,” Eve finished, no pomp, just a fact, as she undressed Annalise, leaving a trail of clothes from the hall into the bedroom.

They fell onto the bed. Eve kissed down her neck, hands sliding up her thighs. “I want my mouth on every part of your body…”

“Do it then,” Annalise teased, sighing into the touch as Eve lightly ran her fingers along the inner crook of her thighs, kissing her way down. When Eve’s mouth met the meeting of her thighs, Annalise closed her eyes, biting her lower lip. Bare, transparent, vulnerable to the woman opening her yielding body and her embracing heart, she gave in to the bliss.

 

They talked in bed as the sun went down.

“I never answered your question about my biggest passion. We’re trying not to jinx it but our goal is to expand the bookstore and have two locations. There’s a space. The area is amazing and the building itself would be exact for our goals. We would be able to host events and performances in the event room, and it also has solid kitchen space. We wouldn’t just be a bookstore; we’d be a bookstore and community center and people would be able to organize, do art, create spaces for themselves.”

“I love that,” Eve said. “And with your community connections you’d have to fight people not to come through.”

“It’s not just that,” Annalise said. “If we can acquire this property, the people I work with will all be able to do better. Wes would be head chef. He’d put heart into creating a good menu. And Asher loves people so he’d have more floor time. Connor would be our event planner. No one has their pulse on the city like him, or would bring amazing guests in. Michaela would run the mother location. Laurel might not stay with us in the same way she is now. She’s graduating from law school soon, and she’ll be fielding offers from law offices that do progressive work. But she’s already on board to be our legal representative, which she’s already been acting as.”

“I hope it works for you,” Eve said. “All of you deserve it.” Turning toward Annalise, Eve pulled her close by the waist. “You deserve all the good things in the world.”


	2. Chapter 2

 “Do you want to go to the Botanical Garden with me after work?” Annalise held the phone in her ear as she clicked through a list of new inventory.

“Today? I’m actually going to Rose’s house.”

“Wes’ mother?”

“Yeah, she’s the greatest and I’ve been wanting to spend time with her.”

“Yeah, I mean, I understand. We never said we were exclusive.”

“ _Stop_ ,” Eve giggled. “Not what I meant. We’re having a little book club since we finished reading each other’s books from Book Swap and want to talk about them.”

“Reginald Rose and Howard Zinn. Which I’m going to pretend I remember for professional reasons and not because I was totally fixated on you that night.”

“What was so fixating about me?”

“Obviously your breathtaking taste in literature.”

“So you’ve read the book and play? You should come.”

“I don’t want to be a third wheel.”

“It’s not a date, Annalise. And it’s already too late, you’ve invited yourself,” Eve teased. “Bring a dish.”

 

The book conversation winded comfortably into a general hang out over fruit salad brought by Eve, Rose’s plantains and red wine, and the store bought mini cupcakes Annalise had decided on.

“You have a sewing machine?” Eve remarked, looking toward the machine set up at the window mantle.

“Yes, I repair my or Wes’ clothes and sometimes I do a fun dress or something,” Rose said. “Wes has told me I should do an Etsy shop and I say, ‘What for? Nobody will pay me for this’.”

“I want to see your clothes,” Eve said, and Annalise nodded, so Rose sighed, looked at the two of them as if she were debating the extent of her shyness, then said, “Okay,” and pulled a chest of fabrics and garments from the closet.

Annalise was most drawn to a starry blue material. Eve picked up a flowy, bright red organza.

“I have a dress from that material that would be so flattering for your frame,” Rose said to Eve. “Do you want to try it on?”

“Yes,” Eve gushed.

“I second wanting to see her in it,” Annalise said.

Eve slipped without self-consciousness from her own dress and into the red dress Rose brought her.

“I feel like a princess,” Eve remarked, whirling in front of the nearby mirror. The fabric, light and flowy, spun with her.

“You’re both very youthfully beautiful,” Rose said. “I guess I’m aware of my age ever since Wes turned twenty-two.”

“Age is a silly social construct,” Eve said, twirling her dress sleeve over her shoulder with graceful flare. “I feel like I’m twenty-two.”

“Agreed,” Annalise said.

“Party in the mothafuckin houuuuuuuuse!!!!”

The three of them turned when the door opened and Wes stumbled in followed by Asher (the newly appointed town crier, it seemed), Michaela, Laurel, and Connor. As they came in, a flurry of, “Pour it up, pour it up’s”, screaming “Yaaaas,” Annalise, Eve, and Rose sent each other a look and realized they were decidedly Not Youth.

“Everybody better get hella turnt for my GRADUATION PARTYYYY!!!” Laurel screamed.

 “Oh my god, it’s Annalise and Eve, what a crazy coincidence,” Connor said. “What are you doing here?”

Annalise gestured to their table of snacks where their books lay. “Hanging out with Rose. Talking books.”

“Only you would have a long day of doing book stuff at work and then get off work to go talk more about books with your book girlfriend and your book employee’s bookworm mom,” Laurel slurred, coming to stand between Annalise and Eve. “Hi Eve,” she said. “You’re like my hero because you’re a successful lawyer and _I_ wanna be a successful lawyer.”

“You will,” Eve said. “You’re so smart and poised. I mean, not right now, like at all. But in general.”

“I didn’t know you were having a party or I would’ve done book club another time,” Rose said to Wes.

“Party? This is literally just the people from work.”

Connor interjected, “Oliver is also coming any minute.”

“I think my friend Rebecca who I met at Book Swap might come, but who knows?” Laurel said. “Wes, what’s the wifi password so I can put my playlist on?”

“Ooh, Wes, can I bartend? I make a killer mai tai,” Asher said.

“I guess our book club is done,” Annalise said to Rose.

“Waaait,” Laurel said, stumbling and landing in Annalise’s lap. She gestured wildly in Eve, Annalise, and Rose’s directions. “All of you have to go out with us for my graduation party!! I’m done with LAW SCHOOL!!! Annalise I know you already gave me congratulations and a gift but now you have to come to this party!”

“We would’ve invited you before but this was spontaneous,” Michaela said. “But you all really should come out with us!”

“I thought you were partying here?” Rose said.

Laurel threw her hands in the air. “We’re gonna pre-game so all you nerds can catch up with me and then we’re gonna go to the DISCO!!!”

“Are they calling it that again?” Eve asked with mirth in her eyes.

Rose perked up. “Ooh! I have a Kool & the Gang record!”

“Not what we meant, but you know what, let’s listen to actual disco,” Asher said.

“We should use the record player,” Wes said. “Can I go get it?”

Rose nodded, so Wes went to set up the record player and then Rose put it on the song “Celebration”.

“Perfect for your big day,” Michaela said, one drink in hand, using the other to pull Laurel up and dance with her as Wes turned the song up.

“Raise the roof!” Rose cheered, doing that.

“I’m so glad you’re joining us that I’m not even going to make fun of you,” Wes said.

Everyone sang along. “CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON!”

“You really should be proud,” Eve told Laurel when the song was over. “UC Hastings is not an easy school to graduate from.”

“You remembered,” Laurel said.

“I was impressed.”

“Okay, this drinking game that I’m making up on the spot is called Explain a Book Plot Badly,” Michaela said. “Someone does that, and then the first person to guess the book chooses the person who has to drink next. Then that person explains another book plot badly.”

“Oh! I wanna go first!” Connor said. “Forties era Ferris Bueller with a food name in the title.”

“Catcher in the Rye,” Michaela said without missing a beat. “I cheated though cuz I know all your annoying habits and I could tell you were gonna pick it as soon as you spoke up.”

“You love me,” Connor replied.

“I get to choose who to drink,” Michaela said, “So I say…” She turned. “Oliver and Rebecca.”

“Hey everyone!” Oliver said cheerfully as they entered.

“Sup,” Rebecca said, setting down a bottle of scotch. She nodded at Laurel. “Happy graduation.” She gave everyone a collective wave.

“Happy graduation to you too!!” Laurel shouted.

“I’m not graduating or in school but thanks.”

“Michaela was just saying that both of you need a drink and then you have to pick a book and explain the plot badly so others can guess what it is,” Asher explained

“Bunch of gays overthinking literally everything,” Rebecca said.

“You don’t have to roast us,” Asher said.

“You, Ashington Millstone, are probably the straightest person in the room, but go off I guess,” Laurel said.

“Okay first of all, not even my parents are WASPy enough to have named me Ashington. Second, I’d totally do above-the-waist stuff with Chris Hemsworth.”

“Bunch of gays is my clue, dummies,” Rebecca clarified. “As an extra hint, it came out in the eighties.”

Eve said, “I feel like I know this one but I’m not sure.”

“Just guess then,” Rebecca said.

“Dykes to Watch Out For.”

Rebecca high fived her and everyone gave impressive oohs.

“ _What_? How did you guess that?” Annalise asked.

“Because it has a bunch of gays in it. And they’re totally navel-gazing. Plus, Rebecca, I saw you reading a comic book at Silent Book Club. It wasn’t that one, but I used my powers of deduction and thought it could be a comic book.”

“Okay, no more cheating,” Rose said. “Rebecca gets to pick a person to drink, and that person gives a clue, and if you know it for some other reason than the clue, don’t say it.”

“I pick you, Rose,” Rebecca said.

“Okay,” Rose said, taking a sip of her wine. “My book is about a group of people who’s _body parts_ were _not_ on the _devil_.”

Wes laughed. “Okay, I get it. I know what book this is but I’ll let someone else guess.”

Rose’s eyes danced as she watched their blank faces. “Do you want the answer?” Without actually waiting for anyone to reply, she continued, “It’s _Their Eyes Were Watching God_.”

“Ohhhhh.”

“Now I won, so everyone has to drink up so we can go to the disco!”

 

Silent Disco was like any nightclub, full of young people grinding on each other in a drunken reverie under flashing lights, but without having to shout at anyone to speak to them.

“The DJs cast the music through your headphones,” Laurel had explained. “And everyone’s happy cuz you can choose between Top Forty, House, or Nineties.”

“Nineties,” Annalise and Eve agreed at once.

Their headphones glowed neon pink and they threw their hands in the air when “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by TLC began playing.

 

The Italian restaurant, Bacco Ristaurante, had Lucio Battisti’s “Mi Ritorni In Mente” gently wafting into the candle-lit seating area where she found Eve. Eve looked like a Renaissance painting, all flowing dark hair and a contemplative smile with hidden bubbliness.

Speaking of bubbly, Eve ordered champagne before she even decided upon her food. “I just closed the biggest deal of my career. My brother doubted me. He told me San Francisco would be the wrong place to do this, and I said, ‘Watch me.’. Now he’s eating his words, and I’m about to be eating truffle tagliolini.”

“So that’s the big thing I’m joining you for. Congratulations. How does it feel to have proven him wrong?”

“Great. But not quite as great as the fact that I’m sharing this moment with a woman I… am caring more and more for every day.”

“I feel like I have to milk this good mood moment. I feel like I could ask you for anything.”

“Yes, but not because of my mood. Just cuz it’s you.”

“Cheesy,” Annalise teased.

“Oh really? Would a cheeseball tell you that you’re the most incredible woman she’s ever known? Or that she’s lost in your eyes? Or ask you if it hurt?”

“When I fell from heaven?”

“No, when you fell off your yoga mat and then embarrassed yourself like you were getting attacked by a shark.”

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

“I can’t. No. It was the moment that I realized I was… tied… up in what we were doing.”

“Was that some kind of pun? On the ocean?”

“I’m in a giddy mood right now, but I’m going to stop, I promise.”

“In the interest of riding the wave of that good mood, I want to know if you’ll do Dykes on Bikes in the parade with me. I’ve always wanted to open the parade with them but I never actually had a motorcycle and it seems like a lot of work to seduce a random lady so she’d let me ride with her.”

“It all makes sense. The whole relationship has been a long con so you could use me for my bad girl image in the parade.”

“It only started that way,” Annalise teased. “Then I fell for you.”

For a beat, she wondered if it was too much too soon, but did not have long enough to doubt herself before Eve caught her eye and gave her a cheeky smile. “Well I was just in it for the book recommendations, plus you know, access to Wes’ free blondie squares until it became real so… I guess we feel the same way about each other.”

“I guess we do.”

“A lot to celebrate tonight, then.”

 

Eve kicked her heels off with tipsy bravado as soon as she shut the door behind herself and Annalise. She pinned Annalise against the door and met her lips. Annalise melted her body against Eve’s and wrapped two arms around Eve’s shoulders. She locked them for support when Eve picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

Eve laid her gracefully into the bed and kissed her again, slow and intense and unhurried, her touch light and meandering across her thighs just under the hemline of Annalise’s dress. Eve brought her mouth  to Annalise’s jawline, down to her collarbone, back up to grace her teeth against Annalise’s neck. Annalise pulled at Eve’s dress and they broke apart just to pull it over Eve’s head and go right back into the kiss.

Eve trailed further down to her breasts.

“Yes, God yes,” Annalise whispered.

Eve’s kisses were urgent with desire as she ran her fingertips along Annalise’s soft skin.

She sat up at Eve’s gesture so Eve could pull Annalise’s dress and bra over her head.

Eve wrapped her arms around her. “You’re irresistible. All through dinner I couldn’t wait to get you home and touch your body.” She grazed her fingertips over Annalise’s hips and maneuvered to pull off her underwear. “Lay back. I’m going to die if I wait one more minute to taste you.”

Eve started at her knee. Annalise sighed into the ascending touch of Eve’s lips. Eve teased her, planting pretty kisses up her inner thigh, then looked at her with scandalous, lustful eyes before bringing her mouth to Annalise’s dripping center.

Annalise tried to suppress a moan at the raw sensation of Eve’s wet mouth hot against her needy, throbbing cunt.

She clutched Eve’s hair, bringing her toes to rub across Eve’s bare back. Eve was being gentle, kissing, nibbling, letting Annalise arch into her, but soon she gave desperate, hungry ministrations, sucking her clit. Knowing exactly what she liked, Eve added deft fingers to stroke her wet folds, glancing up at her with a roguish smirk when Annalise started outright whimpering.

“I love hearing you moan like that,” Eve said. Continuing to stroke Annalise’s clit with her thumb, she used her fingers to enter her. Eve fucked her with increasingly rough speed, eyes blown as she glanced up at Annalise in the midst of licking and filling her drenched pussy.

“Come here,” Annalise gestured, and Eve obediently, without missing a stroke of her fingers inside her, came back up to kiss her lips gently, letting her taste her own juices on Eve’s wet mouth while Eve fucked her rough, methodical.

“Do you like tasting yourself?”

She nodded, which made Eve moan into her.

Annalise slipped her fingers inside Eve’s panties and groaned at the wetness she found.

“Oh fu- oh God, yes,” she said when Eve grinded against her, continuing her plundering ministrations while pressing into the stroke of Annalise’s fingers.

She kissed Eve deeply, hungrily, heart pounding, every nerve in her body electrified at once, overwhelmed in the most all-consuming way by the woman on top of, against, inside of her. And if it were a cliché moment to admit it, she didn’t care, as she gripped the back of the hair of the woman buried in her neck and fully encountered the fact that she was totally, absolutely enamored.

Soon, Eve’s ragged breathing came to a hitch and she gasped as the wave of bliss overcame her.

Annalise wasn’t letting her get off that easy and continued to stroke her through the pulsating flood. They moved together, faster, harder, and Eve came again, this time as Annalise lost herself over the edge, needing no further encouragement to cry out, cluthing Eve’s body even closer, somehow closer, and shaking against her.

Eve withdrew her fingers from Annalise’s dripping center and languidly licked them. Knowing it turned Eve on, Annalise kissed Eve’s dripping fingertips, then kissed her mouth.

Eve groaned into the kiss. “You could not get any fucking hotter right now.”

Annalise flipped the two of them over so that she was on top of Eve. “I want to taste you now.”

Eve nodded languidly against the pillow, her knees falling open, stroking Annalise’s hair as Annalise kissed down her lithe body, leaving semi-rough bites at every curve, and arrived at her open, dripping pussy. Annalise licked her with determination, aroused and encouraged by the earthy, salty sweetness of Eve’s juices and the compliment of Eve’s hitched breathing at every ministration of her lips and tongue.

“Mmmn,” Eve moaned. “Y- nhh, I- oh ff…“ Her nonsensical babbling was gratifying.

She could feel Eve building up to that delicious climax, and she sucked Eve’s clit and used her tongue to penetrate past her sensitive folds. Eve held on – she could feel her every muscle, every gasp, and then she came, convulsing, whispering holy sacrilege, drenching Annalise’s tongue with her hot fluids.

Annalise lingered there, licking and kissing Eve’s folds through the aftershocks, then took her time kissing her way up Eve’s body. A kiss to her hip. A lingering brush of her lips to Eve’s nipple, a caress that Eve arched into with murmured encouragement. A kiss along Eve’s jawline. She cupped Eve’s face in her hand, turning Eve’s face to her and kissing her lips. Eve blinked already sleepy eyes at her and pulled her close. Annalise closed her eyes into the warmth of flushed skin.

 

Eve was always willing to make time to steal away together. The picnic at the sun dial gave Annalise the chance to show Eve a natural scene other than the park or beach. The hot pink wig at the Mission thrift store was “exactly the ridiculous glam trash I want for Pride,” Eve had said, holding the synthetic tresses against her face. And sometimes it was simple – relaxed days in her or Eve’s apartment, binge watching Dexter, Eve standing between Annalise’s legs as she sat on the kitchen counter, kissing her breathless and cursing their time restraints while the pasta cooked.

 

Laurel was handling the legal logistics of securing the new space. “I’m not going to be a property lawyer, but I can do this,” Laurel had assured her earlier in the year. “It will be easy.”

And it’s not that Laurel jinxed it, it’s that nothing of course can ever just be easy.

Sign number one that something was off: Laurel’s phone call was suspiciously early. There had been a schedule for securing the new space, and that timeline meant she wouldn’t be signing any paperwork until weeks from now.

Then there was the fact that Laurel had called her at all. This was someone who had once texted her to announce the street was blocked off and they had to close the store for the day because a nearby resident’s smuggled alligator had escaped. This was the person who was now _calling_ her about _real estate_.

The next strange thing was that when she entered the conference room of the bookstore, everyone was there, including Oliver. Connor’s husband was welcome to come to a meeting if he wanted, but he was not involved, so his antsy energy was disconcerting.

“We lost the new space,” Annalise predicted, looking to Laurel for confirmation.

Laurel fiddled with her pen. “There was a buyer who offered a significantly larger bid. Larger than we could have predicted, larger than reasonable, even. So the owners went with them. It was done under our radar.”

“This is freaking ridiculous,” Michaela said. “They told us we were signing the contract soon.”

“We’ll find a new space,” Wes said. “I know this is a disappointing curveball, but let’s take it easy.”

“Um, this thing is actually kind of huge and we should all be taking it really really hard right now,” Oliver said.

“He didn’t mean that to sound as dirty as it did,” Connor added helpfully.

Annalise eyed the both of them. “Why?”

Laurel slow blinked. “Because of who’s opening there instead.”

Asher scoffed. “There’s no way they could be better than us.”

“They’re not better, they’re just richer,” Laurel said. “The space is going to be called the Fair Skies Youth Center. They’re backed by these people called the Mahoneys.”

“Mahoneys… If we didn’t see them coming, why do I know that name?” Annalise asked. “I heard it somewhere.”

“We should all know their name,” Oliver said. “Everyone in the community. Because they’re dangerous.”

 

“I have a confession,” Eve said, eating a pretzel as they strolled down the pier. “I spent years judging – or at least being infuriated whenever I was inconvenienced by – the mob at Time Square, but I’m kind of loving the San Francisco equivalent of that right now.”

“These kinds of areas are well known for a reason,” Annalise agreed. “Which is why I brought you here. You deserve to see the city at its most kitschy, touristy mainstreamness.”

Eve countered, “But at least Fisherman’s Wharf has ten trillion times fewer people. And no Minions or Batmans trying to get you to pay to take a picture with them. New Yorkers are better though at leaning into the tacky Americana, like those I Heart NY shirts. They are so so stupid and as a New Yorker I was always jealous of tourists for being allowed to wear them.”

“I can buy you a visor and a fanny pack.”

Eve smirked. “Nineties us would have gotten along.”

Annalise smiled. “Thanks for coming out here and helping me cheer up.”

“Of course. Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t tell you what was bothering me because I just had an hour-long meeting with the kids about it and it was exhausting. Not because of them, though I think the universe hates that I delegated and started actually taking days off instead of spending every moment at the store. We lost the new space we were planning to get.”

“Oh, no. I know how much that meant to you. But I’m sure whatever new space you find will be totally amazing too.”

“That’s not just it. The people who bought it are this place called the Sunny Skies Youth Center, basically like an after school program for teens. But in reality they’re a political think tank who are posing as a youth community center. The parent company is called The Mahoneys.”

Eve knitted her eyebrows. “What do you mean, The Mahoneys?”

“Their goal is to sway the politics of San Francisco further away from the power of the people. Driving out community owned businesses like mine in favor of more corporations. Funding the kinds of politicians who would immediately deport the families of the very kids the youth center claims to help. People like Rose. Another day, another demon to defeat.”

“How do you know any of that?”

“Promise not to tell?”

Emotions Annalise could not read roiled through Eve’s eyes. “Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“I want to know.”

Annalise felt just a flicker of concern over Eve’s cryptic expression, but this was Eve. Even if she didn’t approve, she was still trustworthy with a secret. It’s not like she was going to interfere. “Oliver, Connor’s husband, hacked them. He did some digging when they found out who bought the space from under us. It seems like the Mahoneys are trying to keep their Sunny Skies connection very hush. So we’re going to get loud.”

“And you think this will work?”

“The Mahoneys tried to do the same thing in DC and DC wasn’t having it. The Mahoneys changed their mind and backed out when it became clearer to the community what they were up to. I know this is probably boring to you though. Thanks for listening.”

“It’s not boring,” Eve said abruptly.

“Are you still hungry? We could eat something really touristy like French fries dipped in ice cream”

Eve seemed thrown, but then said with a smile, “Only if we swing to the other end of San Francisco type things and do like, a kale, romaine, and ginger juice later.”

Eve took her hand and held it tightly as they approached the French fry stand.

 

Eve went to her own home that night, claiming she had a lot of work to do, which was understandable. Annalise would have liked to do the amazing thing they had started to do where they shared intimate moments together, sleeping, without sex. She would have liked to be held, but she knew that having space was healthy too.

It was around midnight, with her satin-wrapped head resting cool against the pillow, her eyes drooping, that she remembered why she recognized the name Mahoney.

 

“The Mahoneys,” Annalise said. “Headquartered in New York. Represented by Rothlo and Rothlo. You knew you were representing them.”

She held the files, pointing them with accusation at Eve who was lit only by the moonlight shining into her apartment.

Eve opened her doorway wider. “Come inside please.”

Eve’s eyes were tinged with guilt when she shut the door after Annalise and turned to her.

“You’re… what, were you plotting against me this entire time?” Annalise asked.

Eve crossed her arms. “Plotting against you? Annalise, don’t be so dramatic, ‘plotting against you’. This is not a Gillian Flynn novel. I worked with the Mahoney real estate agent and I helped them secure a property space. It meant everything to my firm but I had no idea it had anything to do with you until today. And your dream, I really do support it. But I have career goals too, and, and a family I’d do anything for. I want to figure this out but I don’t know what comes next. What if I helped you find another property? You could open literally anywhere else in a city sprawling with art and culture.”

Annalise stared at her. “You really don’t know me at all if you think my goal is to open a bookstore anywhere. My goal is to open a space that serves the people in my community, in the part of San Francisco I call home. And even worse, you don’t care what the Mahoneys are doing?”

“I knew they were planning to open up a youth center there but looking way into their politics wasn’t my job.”

“…Really?”

“What do you mean, ‘really’?”

“By really, I mean, do you honestly mean to say you thought this was a company that was going to do good for this community?”

Annalise wanted to hear anything but silence, but the silence said it all.

“I didn’t know what they were doing,” Eve said quietly. “But you’re right – I didn’t exactly think it was going to be the kind of good I know we should all be trying to put out into the world.”

“I was right about you. You do have the spirit of this city. Just not the side of it I thought.”

“C’mon, Annalise,” Eve said, “I don’t know what you expect me to have done.”

“Done? You could have done so many things besides empower people who do not want this district or its people to thrive. You could have talked to me about it today instead of pretending like a weirdo that you had no idea what was going on. But you know what, it’s okay because we have a plan and you’re not going to stop us.”

“If you could just listen to me before you do that-”

Annalise scoffed. “What, as a favor to you? I don’t owe you anything. You’re not going to win this. I hope you know what kind of sleeping giant you’ve awakened. And I hope you had a fun summer because it’s about to go way downhill for you from here.”

She stormed into Eve’s bedroom and pulled out _Becoming_ by Michelle Obama from the bookshelf. She took the bookmark out from the book and tossed it onto Eve’s bed on her way out. “And I’m taking my copy of this back.”

Eve picked up the bookmark and knitted her eyebrows. “I was reading that!”

“If you miss the Obamas so bad you can complain about it on Twitter like the rest of us.”

 

And although it’s hours before sunup, she can’t think of anything else when she leaves Eve’s apartment but how much she just wants to sit in the chilly breeze under the trees in Dolores Park and just… breathe.

 

Laurel and Oliver’s Six Point Plan:

One. Hack everything. Dox every Mahoney. Get the professional trails of any high-level employee. Emails, real estate contracts from other cities, the accountant’s budgets, the endless stream of memos about how everyone in the 38rd floor of the New York location should meet indefinitely in the east wing conference room because of the carpet replacement in the west conference room. Literally they’re inventing the concept of “emails that could have been a meeting” but who knows, they might factor in.

Two. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Perfect the smear campaign other cities had already engaged in. News archives, their record of properties bought and ultimately abandoned. Payrolls. The impact of their wake.

Three. Find a cool font for the subversive and cryptic stickers they’re planning to leave around the city to get people involved in an honest to God protest in the streets in case it comes to that.

Four. Check in on Annalise. She’s keeping busier than ever in the store, but make sure she is not secretly spiraling into a whole self-destructive thing over Eve. She refused to take Eve’s calls, but the quiet sadness of it all was so much worse than if Annalise had just been angry.

Five. Get a copy of city ordinances and try to stop the Mahoneys if their plans for the building are in violation to even the smallest minutiae.

Six. The Twitter takedown. Yes, taking to the streets would be epic. But exposing the Mahoneys to thousands of people would be a different kind of fatal blow, the kind of takedown the company would not be able to ignore or erase.

“We’re going to leave just enough of their doxed info that they’ll fear what else we know but not be able to accuse us of outright doing anything untoward to get it,” Oliver said. “Remember, their worst outcome is that we draw a connection between them and the youth center to the point that people know they’re not who they say they are. And even worse than that would be if we expose them for who they really are as people. We don’t even know everything about them, but we know they’re that guy in “The Tell-Tale Heart” – they don’t want us getting under those floorboards.”

 

 

 

People from across the city and the nation participated in the conversation. Laurel was good at breaking down the back and forth of it all, but the fundamental message was clear when the Mahoneys made a statement on their website: “At this time, we are withdrawing from establishing ourselves in San Francisco.”

 

They knew they wanted to infuse the new space with the energy of the community that had made it possible. An up and coming young artist from the Mission Art Collective was thrilled to be commissioned to do a mural on the street-facing side.

It depicted a rainbow on a backdrop of a blue sky and clouds piled high like cotton candy.

While everyone was inside doing preparations for their opening in a few weeks, Annalise came out to bring her iced tea and observe.

“Reading Rainbow was like the best thing ever so it’s kinda an homage to that,” said the teen artist, kneeling in her ripped jeans as she mixed paint methodically to get the right shade of purple. “And it also kinda means hope and bright futures. And of course it’s for pride. A message supporting us, but also a middle finger to those people who tried to come in. Like ‘ay, we’re gaying up the place even harder just out of spite’.”

“It reminds me of my elementary school, in the best possible way,” Annalise said. “I think it’s going to bring out good feelings for everyone who sees it.”

Inside, the art to admire was from Wes, who worked tirelessly in the kitchen to create an unforgettable menu.

“I want people to be road tripping here cuz they heard about the lemon squares,” Wes said as he presented the latest sample platter. “So if it’s anywhere below that caliber, you have to tell me.”

Everyone scrambled from their various desks and ladders to come try a bite.

Laurel nodded as she bit into one. “It’s delicious. I can taste the fresh lemon zest.”

“Forget a road trip, I’d fly across the country for these,” Asher said.

“I’d _murder_ my _mom_ ,” Michaela chimed in.

Connor nudged her. “We know, but we’re talking about the lemon squares right now.”

“I want to thank you for your hard work, everyone,” Annalise said. “Wes, I can feel it in my bones that the café is going to take off. Michaela, how does it feel to have the keys to the kingdom?”

“I’m gonna manage the hell out of our mother location,” Michaela says. “I’m gonna be you you-er than you’re you.”

“Asher and Connor, your connections are a huge part of what saved us. I’m already excited about the events you’re going to do.”

“Uh oh,” Asher said. “Laurel, that means you’re the only one left.”

Everyone gave her playful shoulder nudges. She gave a huge sigh and eye roll.

Annalise put her hands on Laurel’s shoulders. “I’ve never worried about you. Not for a moment. And yes I hate to lose you, but… this next step is right for you.”

“She’s getting a new job, not dying,” Michaela said.

“Eve did tell me that helping her establish the new firm is going to kick my ass enough for me to wish I could die though, so there’s that,” Laurel replied. “But I’m excited to see what it’ll be like to learn from her. Someone who walked away from it all for integrity.”

Annalise folded her arms. “I get what you’re doing. I’m not mad at her anymore. But that doesn’t magically make us back together. She-”

“Oh I forgot, she sent you something,” Laurel said, going to her bag. She pulled out a small gift box and presented it to Annalise.

Annalise mulled over the gift, turning it in her hands as the kids watched in quiet intrigue.

She opened it. Inside, an actual olive branch. The note: “I hiked to Land’s End for this.”

And sometimes the simplest signs are the clearest. Like what it meant that her dreams were coming alive, and it was Eve she wanted to celebrate that with.

 

Annalise agreed to meet Eve at the Hidden Garden Steps. Eve sat alone on the mosaic tiles, looking a little forlorn. When Annalise approached, she could see a mixture of joy and relief and hesitation in Eve’s eyes.

When she was close, she straddled herself in Eve’s lap, took her face in her hands, and kissed her like she was never letting go.

 

“If there’s one thing the parade always does right, it’s letting the Dykes on Bikes open,” Eve said, looking over her shoulder at Annalise. “The women in our community leading the way. How powerful is that?”

“I agree that it’s a positive way to begin. Though, not to rain on your literal parade, I’m sure they’re letting us open mostly because it’s logistically impossible to do anything else,” Annalise said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of running people over.”

“I mean, it’s not my favorite thing, but I’ll do it.”

Annalise laughed and wrapped Eve closer in her arms as they sat on the motorcycle.

The parade was going to start any minute. They were surrounded by women on motorcycles. They existed on every end of the spectrum of San Francisco’s queer energy. Seeing them made Annalise feel the way it felt to pick up a well-worn book for the hundredth time.

And then there was the crowd, whose energy she had always adored in past years, but it was different now that it was tinged with the excitement for the new beginnings they were about to bring.

She put her head against the back of Eve’s shoulder, moving her pink hair aside, and planted a kiss. Eve was wearing Rose’s red organza and she looked like a goddess of ancient literature. Annalise also wore a design she’d nicknamed a “House of Edmond original”, which had inspired the name of Rose’s Etsy shop. The lightweight blue fabric looked complementary next to Eve’s.

The engines revved, and the crowd screamed bubbly joy.

And they were off, their dresses whirling in the wind behind them. Annalise clung tighter to Eve with one hand, and with the other she waved to her city, its vibrant spirit feeding her in its quiet resilience and its loud jubilee.


End file.
